Khamzat Chimaev says he can fight at light heavyweight, confident he would beat Jan Blachowicz

Khamzat Chimaev believes he can compete at light heavyweight and beat the current champ in Jan Blachowicz.

Chimaev took the MMA world by storm in 2020 as he fought twice in 10 days and earned wins at welterweight and middleweight. He followed that up with a one-punch KO over Gerald Meerschaert and was then booked to face Leon Edwards. Unfortunately, he has been dealing with lingering effects of COVID-19 but is eyeing a July or August return.

Although the plan is for Chimaev to return at welterweight, he believes he could beat Blachowicz and fight at light heavyweight.

Image via @ufc on Instagram (photographer not listed)

“To me it doesn’t matter,” Chimaev said to ESPN (via MMAFighting). “Two weight classes waiting for me, [185] or [170], I can go fight [205 pounds]. I did sparring with the guys who are, like top-10 at [205 pounds]. I don’t want to say the names for these guys, but the guys know when they did spar with me what’s happening there.

“I can beat Blachowicz too. Israel [Adesanya] too, he lose with, like, wrestling against Blachowicz,” Chimaev continued. “Blachowicz is not a wrestler. I don’t know people, how they think about it. Of course, I didn’t fight for a long time, I don’t have so many fights, but I know who I am.

“I just have to show it. Now I’m back,” Chimaev continued. “Give me somebody, doesn’t matter. For me, it doesn’t matter. I’ll fight with everybody. When I’m healthy, I’ll fight anybody, everybody. It doesn’t matter, Brock Lesnar.”

There is no question Khamzat Chimaev is confident in himself, him having success at light heavyweight is hard to believe. The Swede has a very solid skill set but as we saw at UFC 259, Blachowicz used his size to beat Israel Adesanya, and he could do the same to Chimaev who’s a natural welterweight.

Do you think Khamzat Chimaev can beat Jan Blachowicz?